2. Closer, Uehara gives up a pair of hits (of course he should never have even had to be used for this game) and he still should have gotten a "Papelbon save."

3. The set up guys, Miller gets hurt, Bailey is good, Wilson is terrible, and Breslow is throwing to 4 more hitters than he should have been as the team now was depleted relief wise.

.... all the things that need fixing...:-)

It was a disgusting loss, no doubt. I put the blame squarely on Wilson not being very good and on Snyder. That outlines our two most pressing needs, and the one that needs immediate attention is the bullpen. We need to get not only a closer but another solid RP as well. Do that alone and I think this team will be fine. Snyder is not going to be around for long and in any event, even good players make bonehead plays sometimes. Cherington has to get us some pen help and make it available right after the ASB when we begin facing our ALE rivals.

As soon as Drew got hurt , he should have been put on the DL. Middlebrooks should have been recalled. ( I said that at the time ) We played short a pitcher for a week to bide time. The pen is over taxed. We have some good arms in the minors. Give them a shot. You have to put your best team on the field. You can see what happens when you count on ham and eggers like Wilson and Snyder. It will not be easy to bounce back from last night's fiasco.

As soon as Drew got hurt , he should have been put on the DL. Middlebrooks should have been recalled. ( I said that at the time ) We played short a pitcher for a week to bide time. The pen is over taxed. We have some good arms in the minors. Give them a shot. You have to put your best team on the field. You can see what happens when you count on ham and eggers like Wilson and Snyder. It will not be easy to bounce back from last night's fiasco.

Stabbed by Foulke.

I thought Middlebrooks couldn't be recalled right away because he had to stay in Pawtucket for 10 days or something like that.

As soon as Drew got hurt , he should have been put on the DL. Middlebrooks should have been recalled. ( I said that at the time ) We played short a pitcher for a week to bide time. The pen is over taxed. We have some good arms in the minors. Give them a shot. You have to put your best team on the field. You can see what happens when you count on ham and eggers like Wilson and Snyder. It will not be easy to bounce back from last night's fiasco.

Stabbed by Foulke.

I thought Middlebrooks couldn't be recalled right away because he had to stay in Pawtucket for 10 days or something like that.

Not if you put Drew on the DL. In that case , you could recall him immediately. Instead , they let Drew linger , and called up Diaz to fill in with Snyder. They DFAed Mortensen to make room for Diaz , and went a pitcher short for a week. In the end , they had to DL Drew anyway. Now they are using Holt. It would have been easier to just bring back Middlebrooks and keep Mortensen or a different pitcher.

It's easy in hindsight. I'm sure the Sox were going off the medical staff's projection of Drew's likely return date. They got it wrong. Things like that happen.

While going a pitcher short can hurt, I'd much rather have Drew at SS and Iggy at 3B than Iggy at SS and Snyder/Diaz (Holt/Middlebrook) at 3B-- at least vs RHPs. The Sox were hoping Drew got better quickly. They got it wrong.

On getting a closer, if we get one, I do not think we also need a RH'd RP also. Uehara goes back to 8th inning set-up, Tazawa to the 7th inning, and Breslow vs LHBs. Now, if Miller will miss a lot of time, maybe we will need to look elsewhere, but Wilson has not been that bad overall, and maybe DLR will get a long look at some point. Also, if Buch comes back, we'll have Ace in the pen.

We all know why this is happening, we just don't want to verbalize it.

There are two problems . 1st, this team needs a UIF, someone to come in off the bench when a player goes on the DL

And 2nd (and compicating the matter) is the old baseball saying that nobody loses their job due to an injury.

Middy got hurt and went down so they called up Iggy to fill in, thinking that Iggy could be the no-hit UIF and play 3b until Middy gets back. Then possbily the worst thing in the world happened as far as the FO was concerned. Iggy was - and still is - setting the world on fire offensively and defensively.

Then something "good" happened when Drew got hurt and went on the DL. That allowed them to move Iggy to his best position of SS. But now the problem becomes more complicated. Middly is still in Pawtucket for one reason: If they've already brought Middy up, what do they do when Drew comes back?

Do they tell a solid prospect, Middy, that he's lost his job to Iggy even though they know they want Middy for next year at 3B?

Do they tell Drew, a solid performer whom they picked up as a FA and was starting to hit with power that he's lost his job because of an injury?

Or do they tell Iggy that he's now on the bench because he's not better than the two playing ahead of him. I'd like to be there when they try to say THAT and keep a straight face!

So until the FO decides what they're going to do we're stuck with the likes of Snyder, Holt, and Diaz at 3B, any one of whom would be a perfectly serviceable UIF.

C'mon, FO. Make a decision. Demote Drew to UIF, let Iggy play SS and Middy at 3B. Drew is a big boy with ML experience. He understands the game of baseball and why things sometimes happen. He'll get over it. And if he doesn't? Oh well.

Having the right to do something doesn't make it the right thing to do.

I'll say it. Drew, regardless of salary or why he was brought in, should not have been relied on as the every day SS. I'm saying this knowing he could be considered part of the reason the team is a lot better this year, and I'm saying it knowing he's a quality defensive infielder with some extra-base hit ability on offense. Iggy has proven he can hit MLB pitching, surprisingly or not. So now, you do move Drew to utility, and I think bring Middlebrooks back to play 3rd, or you go out and you buy a mid-season veteran fulltimer for 3b, and tell Middlebrooks tough luck...(like Lavarnway). Iggy should be at SS, period. End of story. It's a hinderance to his development to continue doing an AROD at 3b so that Jeter (Drew) can play SS. That's just silly. Even if Iggy couldn' t hit, I'd still be saying he should be the every day SS for his defense, range. This isn't a rocket science deal either. Who cares how a guy loses his position? Sox certainly had no issues trading Nomar when they did, Youkilis when they did. Leave Iggy at SS, and get a 3b. That's one fix job and the other is bring in a quality reliever who can be part of the corps committee with Uehara, Bailey, Breslow, (Miller if he isn't seriously hurt), Aceves, and who ever else is back there. The guy should be a closer, or have closer experience.

And 20-20 hindsight aside, Scutaro continues to show everyone why he wasn't such a bad guy to keep around. He does an adequate enough job on defense and hits consistently enough to be an All-Star. He was an asset on the Sox and an asset the past few seasons for Giants.

And 20-20 hindsight aside, Scutaro continues to show everyone why he wasn't such a bad guy to keep around. He does an adequate enough job on defense and hits consistently enough to be an All-Star. He was an asset on the Sox and an asset the past few seasons for Giants.

I wouldn't want Scoot at SS, and we already have a 2Bman. I'm glad Scoot foound a niche.

As soon as Drew got hurt , he should have been put on the DL. Middlebrooks should have been recalled. ( I said that at the time ) We played short a pitcher for a week to bide time. The pen is over taxed. We have some good arms in the minors. Give them a shot. You have to put your best team on the field. You can see what happens when you count on ham and eggers like Wilson and Snyder. It will not be easy to bounce back from last night's fiasco.

Stabbed by Foulke.

You've been hoping and praying for a loss so you could write that, but you have to ignore the fact that the Sox were absolutely red hot before last night's loss. I think Middlebrooks could well find himself back on the big club, but so far this year he has been an error machine at 3B and a strikeout machine at the plate. Unlike opposing teams during the homestand, especially when the Sox were going with 6 relievers, the starters were normally, usually, getting the Sox into 6th or 7th or 8th inning. Wilson didn't do his job, period, and the Sox had 7 relievers.

2. Closer, Uehara gives up a pair of hits (of course he should never have even had to be used for this game) and he still should have gotten a "Papelbon save."

3. The set up guys, Miller gets hurt, Bailey is good, Wilson is terrible, and Breslow is throwing to 4 more hitters than he should have been as the team now was depleted relief wise.

.... all the things that need fixing...:-)

Wow. Just wow. A one game statistical sample has you making a bunch of fixes. With Drew out, there is no way the Sox wouldn't be using a fill-in last night, especially given that Middlebrooks is an error-maching this year at 3B. Uehara has been fine as the closer. Wilson was terrible, it happens.

As soon as Drew got hurt , he should have been put on the DL. Middlebrooks should have been recalled. ( I said that at the time ) We played short a pitcher for a week to bide time. The pen is over taxed. We have some good arms in the minors. Give them a shot. You have to put your best team on the field. You can see what happens when you count on ham and eggers like Wilson and Snyder. It will not be easy to bounce back from last night's fiasco.

Stabbed by Foulke.

You've been hoping and praying for a lost so you could right that and are of course ignoring the fact that the Sox were absolutely red hot before last night's loss. I think Middlebrooks could well find himself back on the big club, but so far this year he has been an error machine at 3B and a strikeout machine at the plate. Unlike opposing teams during the homestand, especially when the Sox were going with 6 relievers, the starters were normally, usually, getting the Sox into 6th or 7th or 8th inning. Wilson didn't do his job, period, and the Sox had 7 relievers.

I've been hoping and praying for a loss? Where do you get off saying that? That is pure nonsense. I happen to think that we are a better team with Middlebrooks than with Snyder. I felt that way before and I feel that way now.

We all know why this is happening, we just don't want to verbalize it.

There are two problems . 1st, this team needs a UIF, someone to come in off the bench when a player goes on the DL

And 2nd (and compicating the matter) is the old baseball saying that nobody loses their job due to an injury.

Middy got hurt and went down so they called up Iggy to fill in, thinking that Iggy could be the no-hit UIF and play 3b until Middy gets back. Then possbily the worst thing in the world happened as far as the FO was concerned. Iggy was - and still is - setting the world on fire offensively and defensively.

Then something "good" happened when Drew got hurt and went on the DL. That allowed them to move Iggy to his best position of SS. But now the problem becomes more complicated. Middly is still in Pawtucket for one reason: If they've already brought Middy up, what do they do when Drew comes back?

Do they tell a solid prospect, Middy, that he's lost his job to Iggy even though they know they want Middy for next year at 3B?

Do they tell Drew, a solid performer whom they picked up as a FA and was starting to hit with power that he's lost his job because of an injury?

Or do they tell Iggy that he's now on the bench because he's not better than the two playing ahead of him. I'd like to be there when they try to say THAT and keep a straight face!

So until the FO decides what they're going to do we're stuck with the likes of Snyder, Holt, and Diaz at 3B, any one of whom would be a perfectly serviceable UIF.

C'mon, FO. Make a decision. Demote Drew to UIF, let Iggy play SS and Middy at 3B. Drew is a big boy with ML experience. He understands the game of baseball and why things sometimes happen. He'll get over it. And if he doesn't? Oh well.

Having the right to do something doesn't make it the right thing to do.

Boy, have you got it wrong. Even Middlebrooks knows he lost his starting job because he was a liability at 3B, leading the team in errors and not helping much at the plate. He said it himself on the way down to Pawtucket. The Sox had a serviceable UIF named Ciricaco, but decided to keep Iglesias on the big club along with Middlebrooks, then moved Middlebrooks, who was tanking, back to AAA and promoted Snyder. When Drew got hurt, they brought up Diaz to be the UIF so Snyder could start at 3B.

There may well come a point this year when Middlebrooks becomes consistent and a better bet at 3B than Drew is at SS (and Iglesias at 3B), but that hasn't happened yet. Meanwhile, you would have us believe the SS/3B situation has been completely mismanaged, which it has not, and that the team is going downhill because of it. Check the standings, please. The Sox have a 5 game lead in the AL East and the best record in the AL. It's remotely possible Cherington and Farrell are doing a decent job.

There may well come a point this year when Middlebrooks becomes consistent and a better bet at 3B than Drew is at SS (and Iglesias at 3B), but that hasn't happened yet. Meanwhile, you would have us believe the SS/3B situation has been completely mismanaged, which it has not, and that the team is going downhill because of it. Check the standings, please. The Sox have a 5 game lead in the AL East and the best record in the AL. It's remotely possible Cherington and Farrell are doing a decent job.

Who there... calm down Pardner!

To say they had a serviceable UIF (assuming that a UIF can play 3B) is a bit of a stretch. Ciriaco played his way out of Boston even more than Middy did. And I LIKED Ciricaco! Let's not be thinking that his play in SD is representative of his play in Boston. It wasn't.

As to Middy, I'll confess that I don't check defensive statistics of Pawsox players every day but offensive stats have a way of showing up and it appears that his offense is improving greatly. I never compared Middy to Brooks Robinson on either side of the ball. The only words I used to describe Middy are that he's a "solid prospect" and I'll stand by that. The main reason he was sent down was to work on his hitting and that's improving while his defense wasn't much worse than last year (.939 vs .949)

However, the most egregious of your statements is accusing me of saying that the SS/3B has been competely mismanaged and that the team is going downhill. The last time I checked this team has a ~5 game lead in the AL East and that number is getting bigger every week! I DO check the standings. Frequently. And I'm pleasantly surprised.

I completely agree that Cherrington and Farrell are doing a good job. My point in this post was that IMO the FO is caught between a rock (Iggy's performance) and a hard place ("A player doesn't lose his job because of an injury".) And then I offered a solution.

If that offends you then, as I said earlier, oh well.

Having the right to do something doesn't make it the right thing to do.

We all know why this is happening, we just don't want to verbalize it.

There are two problems . 1st, this team needs a UIF, someone to come in off the bench when a player goes on the DL

And 2nd (and compicating the matter) is the old baseball saying that nobody loses their job due to an injury.

Middy got hurt and went down so they called up Iggy to fill in, thinking that Iggy could be the no-hit UIF and play 3b until Middy gets back. Then possbily the worst thing in the world happened as far as the FO was concerned. Iggy was - and still is - setting the world on fire offensively and defensively.

Then something "good" happened when Drew got hurt and went on the DL. That allowed them to move Iggy to his best position of SS. But now the problem becomes more complicated. Middly is still in Pawtucket for one reason: If they've already brought Middy up, what do they do when Drew comes back?

Do they tell a solid prospect, Middy, that he's lost his job to Iggy even though they know they want Middy for next year at 3B?

Do they tell Drew, a solid performer whom they picked up as a FA and was starting to hit with power that he's lost his job because of an injury?

Or do they tell Iggy that he's now on the bench because he's not better than the two playing ahead of him. I'd like to be there when they try to say THAT and keep a straight face!

So until the FO decides what they're going to do we're stuck with the likes of Snyder, Holt, and Diaz at 3B, any one of whom would be a perfectly serviceable UIF.

C'mon, FO. Make a decision. Demote Drew to UIF, let Iggy play SS and Middy at 3B. Drew is a big boy with ML experience. He understands the game of baseball and why things sometimes happen. He'll get over it. And if he doesn't? Oh well.

Having the right to do something doesn't make it the right thing to do.

Boy, have you got it wrong. Even Middlebrooks knows he lost his starting job because he was a liability at 3B, leading the team in errors and not helping much at the plate. He said it himself on the way down to Pawtucket. The Sox had a serviceable UIF named Ciricaco, but decided to keep Iglesias on the big club along with Middlebrooks, then moved Middlebrooks, who was tanking, back to AAA and promoted Snyder. When Drew got hurt, they brought up Diaz to be the UIF so Snyder could start at 3B.

There may well come a point this year when Middlebrooks becomes consistent and a better bet at 3B than Drew is at SS (and Iglesias at 3B), but that hasn't happened yet. Meanwhile, you would have us believe the SS/3B situation has been completely mismanaged, which it has not, and that the team is going downhill because of it. Check the standings, please. The Sox have a 5 game lead in the AL East and the best record in the AL. It's remotely possible Cherington and Farrell are doing a decent job.

Ciriaco had as many errors as Middlebrooks in about a quarter of the playing time, wasn't hitting a whole lot better than Will, and had made several boneheaded baserunning blunders. Explain to me again why Pedro was serviceable?

While I reocognize the Sox like anyone could benefit from adding a good righty bat, a solid starter, and one or more reliable bullpen arms, I would like to make the arguments on why a big deal for a very good bat or arm should be avoided. So here they are in no particular order:

1. Nothing's broken. Sox lead the AL and the AL East. Chemistry is good. Hitting is the best in MLB, and the pitching has been better than expected. When Buchholz gets off the DL, they will have a pretty good rotation. Bullpen is still a little thin, however.

2. Sox already own some talented players at Pawtucket like Bogaerts, Bradley, and Middlebrooks. Plus guys already in Boston can and will improve--see Iglesias, Nava, Miller, Tazawa, et al.

3. Going out into the marketplace is fraught with danger. The Phillies are a perfect example of improving a good team only to make it worse. They paid a king's ransom for Papelbon, and what has it gotten them? Same goes for Cliff Lee. Tigers got Fielder and Verlander, both at hefty prices, and the Sox are 3 games up on them while playing a tougher schedule. The Yankees got ARod for an insane amount of money and have one WS in like 10 years to show for it. On the other hand, I would be dishonest if I didn't recognize the 2004 Sox benefitted from three earlier, major acquisitions--Ramirez, Ortiz, and Schilling--and the 2007 team benefitted from getting Beckett and Lowell.

4. This is a rebuilding year and has gone way better than expected. Stay the course--see reason #2.

And now one argument for making a trade/deal, which I do recognize. The Sox just might have more talent in the minors than the big club can reasonably absorb. The right deal, assuming Bogaerts isn't given away, might make sense. And I think the Sox are comfortably under the salary cap.

What a difference a week made!...but time to recover, to face reality, seaon might be decided by July 31... Lets start by putting Napoli on assigment... then lets get talent by giving potential talent... It works that way regretfully...

Not sure a week has made that big a difference. The road trip has not gone well, 1-3, but two of those losses were against two aces, Weaver, who was pitching very well, and Hernandez, who did not have his best stuff but was still good, especially with Ellsbury and Victorino out of the lineup. Meanwhile, the ace the Sox need is named Buchholz, and he now appears to be headed in the right direction, but likely won't return until after the All-Star game. The bullpen needs help, clearly. The Sox still have have three talented players at Pawtucket--Middlebrooks, Bradley, and Bogaert--and I think they are better options than a deal for, say, Young.